One of the more difficult aspects of baseball and softball for children is the fact that they lack proper eye-hand coordination in order to be able to bat the ball. It is for this reason that both boys and girls in baseball and softball, learn to bat with the ball placed on a tee. A tee is a rubber tubular member mounted on a base that hold a ball. A player swings at the ball and the ball is then in play. While a tee permits a game to proceed, and allows the ball to get into the field of play, it does not permit the children to learn to judge the height and speed of a ball approaching the bat. True eye-hand coordination can only come from swinging a softball or baseball bat at a moving target. While baseball throwing machines do exist, the cost of same prohibits their use other than under controlled conditions, and for safety reasons, they can only be used under controlled conditions. Those conditions include netted areas of large expanse. These machines tend to throw the ball at the batter either very fast in the case of baseball arcades, such that only adults or teenagers at best can utilize them, and those that throw a ball slower, require fielders to go after the ball, since they are being used in open environments.
There is a need therefore for a device that will help develop eye-hand coordination of young ball players, both male and female and which can be utilized with a minimum number of people.
It is an object therefore to provide an eye-hand coordination device suitable for use by youngsters.
It is another object to provide an eye-hand coordination device for use by young ball players that requires only one person in addition to the batter.
Yet another object to provide a device that is easy to use for youngsters without adult supervision.
Still another object is to provide a ball hitting aid that does not require large physical area in which to be utilized.
These and other objects will in part be obvious and will in part appear hereinafter.
The invention accordingly comprises the apparatus possessing the features properties and the relation of components which are exemplified in the following detailed disclosure and the scope of the application of which will be indicated in the claims.
For a fuller understanding of the nature and objects of the invention, reference should be had to the following detailed description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings.